David Robert Mitchell's 2018 film, Under the Silver Lake, a surrealist black comedy that subverts the conspiracy thriller genre, is set to depart Netflix on July 5. The film, which stars Andrew Garfield as a disaffected 30-something named Sam, pokes fun at the obsessive puzzle-solving tendencies that drive individuals to seek patterns and meaning in seemingly random occurrences.
Sam becomes entangled in a bizarre conspiracy in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, after his neighbor Sarah disappears. Despite facing eviction, Sam's focus shifts to dubious codes, treasure maps, and coincidences, all filtered through his conspiracy-addled mind. His quest to find Sarah leads him to expose what he believes is Hollywood's seedy underbelly, convinced that subliminal messages are hidden in plain sight. The narrative leaves viewers questioning whether Sam's intense focus has any basis in reality or if it is merely the product of an idle, disillusioned mind.
Mitchell's neo-noir satire shares thematic similarities with Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's 2022 film, Something in the Dirt, which also explores the descent into a conspiracy rabbit hole. However, while Something in the Dirt offers commentary on shared delusion stemming from isolation or trauma, Under the Silver Lake is more overtly absurdist and incoherent. It playfully mimics the style of David Lynch's Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, with Sam's interactions with characters like the zine author Comic Fan and his decoding of cereal box maps serving as subtle jabs at his own ridiculous pursuits.
Criticism has often pointed to the film's long, meandering journey, which can feel indulgent. Yet, Mitchell's adept use of pop culture references—from old Playboy issues to Nintendo Power magazines—to construct a faux-conspiracy provides the film with its witty, subversive quality. These references, while fitting into an incoherent pattern only Sam perceives, make sense within his increasingly paranoid worldview. Ultimately, Sam's search for answers is an attempt to force meaning onto a mystery, mirroring an existential crisis and a desire to make sense of his own life.
The film satirizes the urge to embrace ludicrous conspiracies over reality. Sam's journey, however, concludes with the understanding that the absence of straightforward answers is itself significant. There is no grand mystery to solve, no logical endpoint to the conspiracy narrative, and its inherent unsatisfactoriness is part of its design.
Mitchell borrows from the classic trope of the jaded private detective, seen in films like The Long Goodbye and Inherent Vice, but reframes it for a hyper-capitalist world. Sam remains oblivious to his own flaws and ingrained misogyny, hypocrisy that Mitchell uses to comment on out-of-touch nihilism without creating a mere caricature. The film acknowledges the very human temptation to escape painful reality by immersing oneself in make-believe.
Under the Silver Lake feels particularly relevant today, as pop-culture enthusiasts constantly seek to decode hidden clues and connect disparate events. Mitchell's film serves less as a tangled mystery and more as a somber warning about these modern obsessions. Whether viewed as a brilliant satire or an indulgent experiment, its lingering impact makes it a worthwhile watch before its departure from Netflix.